Amazon Fire TV Stick now with Alexa Remote, but no 4K support

Amazon.com has just announced the next generation of its Fire TV Stick. The portable streaming player comes packed with enhanced connectivity features, including an Alexa Voice Remote to better search content from the wide selection Amazon offers. Best of all, the price tag remains the same at $39.99.

Amazon Fire TV boxes also received an interface update earlier this month. The Fire OS 5 update’s primary focus was on search functionality, providing a more comprehensive result home screen and enhanced integration with Alexa through the voice remote.

Now, the in-house developed Fire TV devices will get smarter as well thanks to Alexa voice control. Image Source: Stream Daily

Amazon Fire TV Stick: A better, faster, and more intelligent entry-level player

While the new Fire TV Stick from Amazon may not have much going for it design-wise, it does not need to. Its simplicity is key as a portable device, and what matters is the punch it packs under the hood.

The second-gen Fire TV Stick will remain with 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of internal memory settings, but connectivity and performance will vastly improve.

Amazon has replaced its old dual-core Broadcom chip for a MediaTek quad-core MT8127 capable of decoding HEVC content. Moreover, the Fire TV Stick will now come with Bluetooth 4.1 support instead of the old 3.0. Wi-Fi connections on the portable player will leap forward to an 867 Mbps 802.11ac model.

However, the Amazon Fire TV Stick continues to be an entry-level player mainly for 720 and 1080p TV sets, while 4K streaming remains an exclusive feature of the $99.99 Fire TV.

Amazon Fire TV’s universal search will now include recommendations from the entertainment giants Home Box Office (HBO), and Netflix. Image Source: ET

The Vice President of Amazon Fire TV Marc Whitten expressed his joy for the top quality device they have on their hands.

“WE ARE PROUD THAT OUR CUSTOMERS HAVE MADE AMAZON FIRE TV THE #1 STREAMING MEDIA PLAYER IN THE UNITED STATES. WITH MORE THAN 120,000 REVIEWS AND A 4.2 STAR RATING, THEY’VE ALSO MADE THE FIRE TV STICK THE MOST REVIEWED PRODUCT EVER ON AMAZON” said Whitten.